October 24, 2024
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 24.10.2024, 13:55
ELECTIONS The campaign for the first round of the presidential election begins on Friday at midnight and ends at 7 am on November 23. The presidential elections are scheduled this year on November 24 (the first round) and on December 8 (the second round). In between, on December 1, the parliamentary election will be held. Competing in the presidential race are 14 candidates, 10 of them backed by political parties and 4 running independently. Local and EU parliamentary elections were also held in Romania this year, on June 9.
ENERGY The energy minister Sebastian Burduja promised that national gas storage is enough for Romania not to need natural gas imports this winter. He added that Romania is not importing Russian gas at all, and when imports are needed it resorts to Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Romanian official also added that the people who have difficulties paying their bills will still be protected, even after April 1, 2025, when natural gas and electricity prices will no longer be capped.
BUDGET The European Parliament Wednesday voted a budget of EUR 201 billion for 2025. The formula chosen by the EP favours the countries with smaller contributions to the European budget, such as Romania, which stand to gain from the distribution of funds through EU policies and programmes. A final decision on the budget will be reached after negotiations with the member states in the Council, where a EUR 10 bln lower ceiling has been proposed.
UN On the celebration of the United Nations Day on October 24th, the Romanian foreign ministry emphasises that supporting and strengthening multilateralism, centered on the UN system, remain vital and the only response proportionate to the scale and complexity of the global crises that affect UN member countries at the same time. The annual world-wide celebration marks the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter, ratified by most signatory countries, including the 5 permanent members of the Security Council.
SPORTS Romania’s football champions, FCSB (Bucharest), play tonight away from home against Glasgow Rangers, in their 3rd match in the new Europa League format. FCSB has 2 wins so far, 4-1 against RFS (Latvia) and 1-0 against the Greek champions, PAOK Thessaloniki, coached by the Romanian Razvan Lucescu. In men’s handball, Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest Wednesday night defeated Sporting Lisbon, 33-29, in the Champions League Group A. Sporting remains top placed in the group with 9 points, while Dinamo ranks 3rd, with 8 points. (AMP)
